My late morning had me at the Connecticut Convention Center (which is a lot more finished than in those pictures) walking through the facility with my fellow managers, the Boss, and our "partner". Our partner is the rep from one of our vendors with whom we have a labor and revenue sharing deal for convention center work. The first show opens on Thursday, with setup starting tomorrow morning. Our part will be connecting exhibitors' booths to the convention center network via these big honking floor boxes.

The floor boxes, of course, have the stands for the booth curtains sitting on them. And, in many places, carpet that the hall staff is busy laying down with double-sided tape. Oh, and lots of them haven't been opened in weeks or months, so these 20 lb. cover plates are stuck firm to the gaskets underneath. I've always wondered when I'd have use for a crowbar during a network setup. Now I know.

The walkthrough didn't wrap up until something like 12:30. The center was testing its fire alarm system for a chunk of the time we were there (I didn't know you could cram that many strobes into the ceiling of a ball room, no matter how large the room). I didn't get lunch until around one. And, surprise of surprises, the chunk of brain behind my right eye decided that this was all the provocation it needed to throw a grade-A hissy fit. A small pile of Aleve and caffeine later and I seem to be mostly into the post-headache ughs.

Anyway, tomorrow will be spent, in whole or in part, with my crew at the convention center. Of course, when we start is entirely dependant on when our partner secures his supply of patch cables. I asked him as we were walking out on to the main exhibit floor "so, where's your pile of patch cables?" He got this very sick look on his face, and to his credit managed to blurt out "I'll have them overnighted!"